Holcim UAE has commissioned a carbon capture pilot at its Fujairah cement plant in partnership with Oman-based mineralisation company 44.01, according to coverage by Utilities Middle East.

The project marks the operating launch of a carbon capture system tied directly to clinker production rather than to power generation or a separate flue stream. Cement kilns emit CO2 from both fuel combustion and the calcination of limestone, and process-stream capture has lagged behind power-sector deployments worldwide.

What is the technology?

44.01 specialises in mineral carbonation, reacting captured CO2 with peridotite, a magnesium-rich ultramafic rock abundant in the Oman-UAE geological belt, to form stable solid carbonates. The output is positioned as a permanent mineral, sidestepping the long-term monitoring obligations attached to subsurface geological storage. The company has run earlier pilots of the approach at industrial sites in Oman.

The Fujairah installation applies that route to a cement kiln for what both parties frame as a sector-relevant test case. Cement is one of eight hard-to-abate industries flagged by the International Energy Agency and is widely cited as contributing around 7-8% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions.

Why Fujairah?

Fujairah hosts the densest concentration of cement capacity in the UAE. Holcim operates a clinker line there alongside grinding stations, and the emirate's limestone quarries feed adjacent kilns. Co-locating capture with cement output yields a continuous point-source CO2 stream without separate transport infrastructure.

For Holcim UAE, the pilot feeds into parent group Holcim's net-zero pathway, which targets scope 1 and scope 2 reductions versus a 2018 baseline. The UAE subsidiary's plant-level contribution is not publicly broken out.

What does the pilot measure?

Pilot-scale commissioning in mineral carbonation typically tests three operational variables: capture rate per tonne of CO2 reacted, residence time within the rock slurry, and purity of the carbonate product. Scaling decisions follow once those variables produce stable data over a defined operating window.

Neither Holcim UAE nor 44.01 has published the pilot's nameplate capacity, the duration of the test campaign, or the tonnage of CO2 targeted for mineralisation. Those figures typically emerge after the first operating report once the system has logged steady-state hours.

What changes for the UAE cement sector?

The milestone to watch is the next disclosure from either partner on pilot outcomes. UAE industrial operators report under federal Ministry of Climate Change and Environment obligations that are tightening in line with the country's Net Zero 2050 framework. Any commercial-scale follow-on would require environmental permits from Fujairah municipal authorities and a feedstock supply agreement for peridotite.

For 44.01, the Fujairah pilot extends the company's footprint into a second GCC jurisdiction and adds cement to a portfolio that has so far concentrated on industrial emitters outside the building-materials sector. For Holcim UAE, the test marks an operational link between its decarbonisation roadmap and a third-party capture technology on UAE soil.

The decision point arrives when commissioning data is published and the partners elect to extend the test window, scale to a commercial module, or terminate the project.